Family Needs Prayer

[chrisburke]

Hey Gang, it seems like I'm writing prayer requests all the time lately.. sorry for seeming so needy!

I know full well that God is going to provide for my family and I, he always has.. I just like to have people praying for us as much as possible.

For the past year my wife Jen has been on Maternity leave. She left a very good job.. 40 hours/week as an admin assistant in a local cheese factory.. The company that bought out the cheese factory has taken her job and made it a corporate job, which is now done in the main headquarters for the business, by someone who already does this type of work, which means her job is not available for her when she goes back on February 21. All they are able to offer her is a job on in the factory, on the cut line making cheese, and sadly, not 40 hours.. only 32. This is going to mean a considerable pay cut for her.. it's only 8 hours, but her going back to work means we have to get a baby sitter.

Basically we are at a place where her EI from mat leave is about to run up, so she needs to go back to work, because we cannot afford for her to be a stay at home mom.. but in looking at our finances, we also cannot really afford for her to go back to work! Because of the cost of child care, she will loose a considerable amount of her pay to baby sitter.. basically, we have a certain amount of money she needs to make in order for us to cover our bills, and with having to pay for baby sitter, we will be left about $400/month short of what we need to cover our bills...

We don't live lavished lives.. our bills are pretty small compared to most.. but, the reality is, we aren't going to be able to "make ends meat" as they say. so please pray that we figure something out.. we either need her current employer to be able to up her hours, or she will some how need to find a different job that will pay her a lot more than most jobs in our area pay.. as I said, we know that God will provide.. we just could really use as much prayer as possible in the situation, as we only have 2 weeks to figure out whats going to happen.

Thanks in advance for your prayers

[BobbiR]

Praying for you Bro. I know you know that God provides but just watch Him show up. Blessings to you and your family.

[Mike on Bass]

Hey, Chris, praying things turn around.

I have been there before- having more month at the end of the money is a tough spot to be in. We found the same as you- it almost costs more for my wife to work than stay home. She did work for about a year, we didn't make out financially but my wife got to feel like she was contributing.

Maybe with your new position as worship leader, would they be flexible enough where you can work out something where you can spend some considerable time working from home or bring the young one(s) to work for awhile? You might have to get creative with scheduling and such, maybe you can cut out some commuting expenses and deduct some of your phone/internet costs. It might cut out some commuting costs, even if they are negligible, every little bit helps.

Will be praying- God will use people to help you out- but I have learned that it only works if you ask

[chrisburke]

thanks mike.. It's looking like this may be what we do.. my wife has been given a few options as to which shift she will be on.. and shes thinking she'll take a 4:30am shift, which puts her home by lunch.. so I'll stay home with the boys in the morning, then work afternoon and evenings.. it sucks, as it means that I don't really get time at home with her other than when we are sleeping.. but its only until June (when my current job with YFC is finished, and we move into full time worship.. which I'm hoping will be a considerable pay increase, and she'll just be able to stay home).. praying hard for that! the part that frustrates us the most is, the main reason she has to work is so we can pay off our student loans... meanwhile, her job has NOTHING to do with what she went to school for (ministry).. and my current job doesnt require schooling... so reality is.. if we didn't go to university, I could still have the job I have, and she could just stay at home, and we'd be saving $600/month not having to pay student loans... hindsight is 20/20 !!!

[sojourner]

Hi Chris, that sounds difficult and I'm praying something else "breaks" for you in your cashflow situation. Leeland